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NATURE 



[April 5, 1917 



Again, the double-anode valve can be used as 

 a telephonic relay in ordinary telephony to mag- 

 nify and repeat sounds. 



The oscillation valve is not simply a detector ; 

 it is a quantitative detector, and hence has been 

 extensively used as a receiver in all experiments 

 in wireless telephony. In fact, most of the suc- 

 cessful long-distance experiments in radiotelephony 

 have been conducted by it. For when so used 

 it rectifies the continuous high-frequency oscilla- 

 tions in the receiving circuit into a direct current. 

 Hence the variations in amplitude in these oscilla- 

 tions which are produced by the microphone in 

 the transmitter circuits make themselves evident 

 as variations in the rectified current which flows 

 through the telephone receiver, and these repro- 

 duce the sounds of the speech made to the micro- 

 phone in the transmitter. This thermionic 

 detector promises, therefore, to be of great use 

 in the solution of the problem of radiotelephony, 

 as well'as that of repeating or relaying ordinary 

 telephonic currents. 



THE INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS. 



THE Indian Science Congress held its fourth 

 annual meeting in Bangalore on January 10 

 and the three following days, under the presidency 

 of Sir Alfred Bourne, F.R.S. The six sections: — 

 those, namely,, of Mathematics and Physics, 

 Chemistry, Agriculture, Botany, Zoology, and 

 Geology — met in the mornings, and in all seventy- 

 two papers were read. It is obviously impossible, 

 in the space available for this notice, to give an 

 account of the work of the various sections or 

 even to enumerate the papers, but certain points 

 in connection with the present meeting are de- 

 serving of mention. Two of the sectional presi- 

 dents departed from the usual custom in giving 

 addresses on general topics. In the Mathematics 

 and Physics Section the Rev. Dr. Mackichan re- 

 ferred to the great value of early Indian contri- 

 butions to mathematics, both pure and applied, 

 but deprecated the suggestion put forward by 

 some enthusiasts that there was no scientific truth 

 of importance that could not be traced in the 

 ancient Hindu scriptures. The other address, 

 given to the Chemistry Section, is referred to 

 below. 



There was a comparatively large proportion — 

 about one-third of the total number — of papers 

 dealing with the application of science to parti- 

 cular industrial problems. The increase in the 

 number of papers of this kind is undoubtedly due 

 to war conditions, which have stimulated indus- 

 trial enterprise in many parts of India. The 

 papers on industrial science read at meetings of 

 the Congress represent but a small part of the 

 work which is being carried on in different parts 

 of the country ; those on pure science, on the 

 other hand, record very nearly the whole of what 

 is being done in Indian colleges, and one cannot 

 help noticing their fewness. The causes of the 

 paucity of research work were examined by Dr. 

 J. L. Simonsen in his presidential address to the 



NO. 2475, VOL. 99] 



Chemistry Section. Lack of proper training in 

 past years, understafling of colleges — resulting in 

 a man's whole time l>eing taken up by routine 

 work — and inadequate pay in subordinate grades 

 of the teaching profession were mentioned as 

 among the most important; and to these must 

 be added the absence of the research atmosphere 

 that is so marked a feature of the larger English 

 educational centres. The Indian Science Con- 

 gress constitutes at present the only means of 

 remedying this situation effectively. It can^ 

 through the prop>er official channels, direct the 

 attention of the Imperial and local Governments 

 to those defects of the present system which it 

 is in their power to remedy ; it can also provide 

 once a year the research atmosphere and facilities 

 for discussion and criticism which are lacking 

 in the colleges, partly because the great distances 

 which separate them make the personal exchange 

 of ideas almost impossible, and partly because, 

 excepting a few agricultural research stations, not 

 more than one or two men are working at the 

 same subject in any one place. 



Although the actual amount of research in pure 

 science is small, it is large when compared with 

 what was being done four years ago. At the 

 first meeting of the Congress in 1914 only twenty 

 papers were read : the number this year had in- 

 creased to seventy-two. This year, too, a new 

 rule was in force, making it necessary for authors 

 to submit their pap>ers to a referee. While in 

 some of the sections — that of Zoology, for ex- 

 ample — the quality of the papers was excellent, 

 this is not true of all. There were a number of 

 papers from a certain quarter that appear to have 

 been inspired by a determination to produce the 

 maximum quantity of " research " in a given time. 

 Work of this type falls into its proper place in 

 the course of the discussion and criticism which 

 take place in the sectional meetings, and there 

 is no doubt that the Congress is doing a good 

 deal towards setting up a higher standard of 

 work than exists at present. 



An interesting discussion took place, under the 

 chairmanship of Sir Sydney Burrard, F.R.S., on 

 scientific libraries in India, following some sug- 

 gestions which had been made to the effect 

 that research work in India was sometimes 

 hampered by inability to obtain references. It 

 appeared from the contributions to this discussion 

 that the difficulty was felt chiefly by zoologists, 

 to whom plates and diagrams were frequently of 

 greater importance than the text of a paper (which 

 could always be copied and sent by post). But 

 the general feeling was that any lack of library 

 facilities in India could scarcely be considered a 

 contributory factor in hindering research, and 

 that the existing needs would be adequately met 

 by the preparation of a catalogue showing the 

 periodicals available in different places and the 

 rules under which they could be lent or copied. 



The remaining activities of the Congress may 

 be briefly mentioned. Three public lectures were 

 delivered, and were attended by large audiences. 

 The first was by Mr. C. Michie Smith on "The 



